Mental Health Awareness YA Reading List

Talking about mental health is more important than ever, so we put together a mental health awareness YA reading list for your TBR. These characters and stories are strong, uplifting, resilient, and help fight the stigma that is too often associated with mental health topics. Whether you’re looking to feel understood or you want to increase your own awareness about mental health, these YA books have your back.

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10 Things I Can See From Here

10 Things I Can See From Here

By Carrie Mac

Perfect for fans of John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down and Nina LaCour’s We Are Okay, this is the poignant and uplifting story of Maeve, who is dealing with anxiety while falling in love with a girl who is not afraid of anything.

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Actually Super

Actually Super

By Adi Alsaid

A globetrotting novel that takes a determined teen from Japan to Australia and to Argentina and Mexico on a quest to prove that humanity is more good than bad from the author of Let’s Get Lost and Before Takeoff.

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All the Bright Places

All the Bright Places

By Jennifer Niven

This New York Times bestselling love story about two teens who find each other while standing on the edge is now a Netflix film starring Elle Fanning and Justice Smith!

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Ariel Crashes a Train

Ariel Crashes a Train

By Olivia A. Cole

Coming 04.01.25

“A gorgeously kind, wonderfully gentle, and unfailingly compassionate depiction of OCD…bursting with light.”
— Ashley Woodfolk, critically acclaimed author of NOTHING BURNS AS BRIGHT AS YOU

Exploring the harsh reality of OCD and violent intrusive thoughts in stunning, lyrical writing, this novel-in-verse conjures a haunting yet hopeful portrait of a girl on the edge. From the author of Dear Medusa, which New York Times bestselling author Samira Ahmed called “a fierce and brightly burning feminist roar.”

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Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory

By Nic Stone

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin delivers a gripping romance about two teens: a certified genius living with a diagnosed mental disorder and a politician’s son who is running from his own addiction and grief. Don’t miss this gut punch of a novel about mental health, loss, and discovering you are worthy of love.

Scars exist to remind us of what we’ve survived.

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Diary of a Dying Girl

Diary of a Dying Girl

By Mallory Smith

This collection of one girl’s real, unflinching diary entries about slowly dying of a terminal illness is an unparalleled exploration of the human spirit and what it means to truly live.

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Finding Audrey

Finding Audrey

By Sophie Kinsella

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.

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Girl in Pieces Deluxe Edition

Girl in Pieces Deluxe Edition

By Kathleen Glasgow

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A haunting, beautiful, and necessary book.”—Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything

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Home Home

Home Home

By Lisa Allen-Agostini

Fans of Monday’s Not Coming and Girl in Pieces will love this award-winning novel about a girl on the verge of losing herself and her unlikely journey to recovery after she is removed from anything and everyone she knows to be home.

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How to Make Friends with the Dark

How to Make Friends with the Dark

By Kathleen Glasgow

From the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a novel about love and loss and learning how to continue when it feels like you’re surrounded by darkness.

“A rare and powerful novel.” –Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret

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It's All Love

It's All Love

By Jenna Ortega

An empowering collection written by Jenna Ortega, the award-winning actress starring in the hit Netflix series WEDNESDAY. These deeply personal stories and quotes are accompanied by beautiful illustrations that explore Jenna’s struggles with depression, experiences falling in—and out of—love, the loss of close family members, and growing up Latina in Hollywood.

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Just Our Luck

Just Our Luck

By Julia Walton

From the author of Words on Bathroom Walls—now a major motion picture—comes a romance in the spirit of Dear Evan Hansen about overcoming anxiety—and about finding love and friendship in unlikely places.

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The Lucky Ones

The Lucky Ones

By Liz Lawson

For fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, This Is How It Ends, and All the Bright Places, comes a gripping novel about life after. How do you put yourself back together when it seems like you’ve lost it all?

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Nick and June Were Here

Nick and June Were Here

By Shalanda Stanley

Girl in Pieces meets All the Bright Places in this heartbreaking story of two teens who are determined to stay together in a world tearing them apart.

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Point of View

Point of View

By Patrick Bard

Powerful and unfiltered, this fictional account of a teenage boy’s addiction to online pornography is equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful.

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See You on Venus

See You on Venus

By Victoria Vinuesa

Fall in love with this runaway romance now a major motion picture on Netflix! Two star-crossed teens embark on a journey to Spain to discover the meaning of love, death and everything in between.

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Scars Like Wings

Scars Like Wings

By Erin Stewart

Relatable, heartbreaking, and real, this is a story of resilience–the perfect novel for readers of powerful contemporary fiction like Girl in Pieces and Every Last Word.

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The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

By Teresa Toten

Filled with moments of deep emotion and unexpected humor, this understated and wise novel explores the complexities of living with OCD and offers the prospect of hope, happiness and healing. Perfect for readers who love Eleanor & Park and All the Bright Places.

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The Weight of Zero

The Weight of Zero

By Karen Fortunati

For fans of 13 Reasons Why and Girl in Pieces, this is a novel that shows the path to hope and life for a girl with mental illness.

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Who Put This Song On?

Who Put This Song On?

By Morgan Parker

“Unflinchingly irreverent, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartbreakingly honest.” —Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X

In the vein of powerful reads like The Hate U Give and The Poet X, comes poet Morgan Parker’s pitch-perfect novel about a black teenage girl searching for her identity when the world around her views her depression as a lack of faith and blackness as something to be politely ignored.

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Words on Bathroom Walls

Words on Bathroom Walls

By Julia Walton

Now a Major Motion Picture starring Charlie Plummer, AnnaSophia Robb, and Taylor Russell!

Fans of More Happy Than Not and The Perks of Being a Wallflower will cheer for Adam in this uplifting and surprisingly funny story of a boy living with schizophrenia.

When you can’t trust your mind, trust your heart.

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The Words We Keep

The Words We Keep

By Erin Stewart

A beautifully realistic, relatable story about mental health and the healing powers of art—perfect for fans of Girl in Pieces and How It Feels to Float.

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You'd Be Home Now

You'd Be Home Now

By Kathleen Glasgow

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the critically acclaimed author of Girl in Pieces comes a stunning novel that Vanity Fair calls “impossibly moving” and “suffused with light”. In this raw, deeply personal story, a teenaged girl struggles to find herself amidst the fallout of her brother’s addiction in a town ravaged by the opioid crisis.

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